traditional hot rod turn signals??

Note to self: Don't drive the coupe at night up Mopar34's way

 

DING DING DING, i think the old british car lights may in fact be the ticket, i really like the look, and they look like they could have been a possibility. perfect. thank you!

HAHA i was thinking the same. i have a 63 bug, and i know the parts places have new/rebuilt semaphores, theyd work well if you had a light in them. but yeah.

yeah thats probably a great investment, although its the law theyre not required, hand signals arent even taught at drivers ed, or not focused on at the least. the dual filament bulbs are a must.

 

Yes hand signals are traditional but as said most people nowdays wouldn't know what they meant. Consider this.

When a women has her arm out the window is she signaling or just drying her nails?

And how do you tell?

 

I used to use two running lights off the top of a 48' diamond reo cab on the front frame rails. They were kinda cool cause the lens were shape like an indians head, didn't match the frame rail real good so I have these now.

 

yeah, i've already nabbed a set of guides (minus the top turn signal) but more and more im thinking about swapping.

 

RustyNewYorker beat me to it, but I was checking out thoses guides (quite possibly one of the coolest headlights ever made) and thinking there was no way in hell I could shell out that kind of doe anytime soon.
Been to a truck stop lately? They have all kinds of **** to accessorize the big trucks, and they have some pretty nifty running lights, typically mounted to the top of the cap and fenders. A lot of guys use them around here for their plow trucks, etc. Some of them have a great tapered tear drop shape and I imagine with a little yankee ingenuity, you could mount one on each standard headlight for a very similar effect to the haloed "guides". Just a thought, but if done right, I bet they would look killer. Oh yeah, and they're a HELL of a lot cheaper.

 

People expect to see turn signals regardless of it being official hot rod practice to run without them.

Some of the older lamps look nice and some don't.

Circa 1985 Gennie Shifter dual filament.
They're set up to light when the headlights are on


Take at look at the J&P Cycles website.
They have a lot of interesting lights that would be usable on hot rods.


So far, I haven't seen any turn signals inside the headlight bucket in action.
Are they more noticeable at night when the headlights are on and are they sufficient during the day?

Even then, people don't expect to see turn signals in the headlamps.
Better imo to have a separate light at the front.

At the back, the original style taillight works fair long as the bucket is painted white inside and good bulbs are used.

The third taillight has saved my 32 roadster more than a few times as well.
Simple fact is, the ever-popular 39 taillights aren't really bright enough in almost all cases.


I'd rather run an ugly light than have a dented car...

 

I'd like to find one of these:


Apparently it's a vintage aftermarket accessory from the 30's.

 

Early 40-50s GM cars had a headlamp shaped stainless steel Guide back-up lamp that works and looks really neat on fendered or fenderless early Fords and other cars. We mounted a one of them on each front frame rail on the 32 3W full-fendered car just ahead of the radiator shell.
The early Guide -C headlamps have the parklamp on top so we have both park and turn lamps. We also mounted and early 30s stainless unknown make of fender lamp on the rear frame horn for a backup lamp.

It is most important to be sure to have a good ground on any of these early lamps as they ground through the housing and mounting bolts.

By the way 2357 Bulbs are best as they give a much brighter stop and turn function than the old 1157 bulbs.

 

It's just too dangerous out there without proper lights. It's too dangerous WITH lights sometimes. I'm not sure what I'll use on the 38 but I see alot of good idea's in the previous postings. Later

 

^^^is that what i think it is?^^

thats a dam sardine can aint it?

thats cool

 

Looks like a ham can, just smaller.

 

oh ..yep, maybe i got my food products mixed up..
hamb can more appropreate

 

www.ronfrancis.com we have turn signal housings that look like the old Harley ones from the 50's in a few different sizes (S,M,L).

Spike

 

I wanted to keep everything external old school.....Went to these
rearview mirrors with turn directionals built in.
The mirrors came with a pedestal used to mount to a handlebar for a
bike but used the center pedestal from a 59 corvette rearview on each
side.
It's kind of hard to make out but the turn arrow is red and embedded
in the mirror. The front has an amber running light and amber turn.

Dogtag

 

There are some nice repro Lucas ones here ...

http://www.vintagemotorspares.com/phdi/p1.nsf/supppages/hodge?opendo***ent&part=6

 

I can't resist ...

Q: Why do the Brits drink room temp beer?

A: Because they have Lucas refrigerators


NOTE: The electronics in my Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider are all Lucas

 

I sold a few early type truck marker lights a while back. They're a beehive style, which you can still buy new now, but like 2-inch diameter with a gl*** lens. Some had little visors on top. They look a little like early cowl lights. Those are what I would look for for the front of a fenderless car. You could hang them off the headlight posts or the side of the grille and they'd look like they belonged there.

I also have a '54 Kaiser rear bumper I lopped off a car (it was on a stack to crush and it was easier to cut the little bit of frame not rotted through than to grind off the bolts for the guard) that has what must be a back-up light on it. It's a small bullet shaped pod with a flat lens maybe 1" diameter and a base that's bolted to the side of the taillight surround part of the bumper. While it was rotty and the lens fell off, those might also make good turn signals with a vintage look. They might be a universal part, not sure.

I've seen the add-on back-up lights used on early '50's GM cars and I noticed on eBay the prices on those have gone way up for some reason. Like $50 a shot for a nice one. Can't figure why.


Those modern truck-stop lights are cheap enough to modify, too, or if you need a lens for some older light, cut one down, whatever.

If you wanted to build something like those Hamb-cans, I see kits in the parts stores that are supposed to stick on your side mirrors, with arrow-shaped turn indicators, a couple sets of those would probably work just as well stuck on or inside a can like that if you don't want to try to cut out the slots. But I have also seen like 3-4 inch diameter 50's era truck turn signal lights with an arrow cutout, too, you could use the same way.